Sir – the department of trade and Industry has issued a consultation paper on the E-Commerce Directive which currently limits Internet Service Providers’ (ISP) responsibilities when it comes to traffic on their networks.

ISPs are not liable unless they are told about infringing material passing through their systems – the very principle which has allowed the Internet industry to flourish.

However, the consultation seeks views as to whether or not this limitation – otherwise known as ‘mere conduit’ – should be extended to the providers of hyperlinks, location tools and content aggregation services. The trouble is that any extension of the safe harbour will create a legal loophole and make the providers of hyperlinks, location tools and aggregation services completely devoid of any liability when it comes to unscrupulous activity.

If the ‘mere conduit’ limitation is extended, it could well lead to thieves taking advantage of a legal loophole to mushroom infringing content on the Internet, in turn leaving software developers open to climbing a piracy proliferation mountain.

Statistics suggest that a reduction in illegal software from 27% to just 17% would create something in the region of 40,000 additional jobs and contribute £2 billion to UK tax revenues. That is going to be increasingly difficult to achieve if we don’t all start pulling in the same direction.

Julian Heathcote-Hobbins, Senior Legal Counsel The Federation Against Software Theft

Source

SMT